Riding Giants
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:21:02
Sitting on the point,
watching the huge, empty waves...

:21:05
... with his buddy Mike Stang,
19-year-old Greg Noll...

:21:08
... had finally seen enough.
:21:10
He unstrapped his board,
and with Mike Stang in tow...

:21:13
... walked down
to the water's edge.

:21:16
Moments later, they were joined
by fellow-surfers Pat Curren...

:21:20
... Mickey Munoz, Del Cannon,
Fred Van Dyke, Harry Church...

:21:24
... Bing Copeland and Bob Bermel...
:21:29
... who with Noll and Stang...
:21:31
... paddled out
to attempt the impossible.

:21:41
It was obvious
where the waves were breaking...

:21:44
...and we'd all had enough
experience so that...

:21:47
...you know, you knew pretty much
where to paddle to.

:21:50
I remember paddling
into the lineup...

:21:52
...and your balls were
in your stomach, you know...

:21:55
...thinking the bottom
was gonna fall out...

:21:57
...and something was gonna
eat you alive.

:22:02
I'm thinking,
"I don't wanna get wiped out"...

:22:04
...because I know
there's sharks here...

:22:06
...and I'm not into swimming
with sharks, exactly.

:22:10
We got out there,
it was a big surprise.

:22:12
It's, you know... It's not
an easy takeoff.

:22:29
I took off on a wave
and went down the side...

:22:32
...and popped out
the other end and went:

:22:35
"Shit, I'm still alive.
Nothing's happened."

:22:37
After we got
a couple waves...

:22:41
...we go, "Hey we can do this,"
you know.

:22:43
They broke the taboo.
They went and did it.

:22:46
And once it was done, opened up
the floodgates and it's like, "Okay...

:22:50
...now how far do we take it?"
:22:54
The following year of 1958...
:22:56
... Waimea Bay blew big-wave surfing
wide open as another migration...


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